10 Best Places You Must See in Vietnam
Vietnam is a great place for your dream vacation because it has beautiful landscapes and interesting cultural traditions. Vietnam has a long history and a culture influenced by more than 50 minority tribes. This makes a trip to Vietnam a great way to learn about other cultures. The country's landscape varies from craggy apexes visible via twisting mountainous routes to luscious and interminable rice parcels.
Climbing, motorcycling, and paddling are great ways to explore Vietnam's landscape in its many parks. However, the nation's best-known natural tourism site, Halong Bay, is a breathtaking sea landscape that visitors, even the most sedentary, can enjoy while lounging on the sand or aboard an excursion ship. The countryside is full of beautiful scenes, but the towns are where you'll find the best of Vietnam's delicious cuisine and the most modern amenities. We've compiled a list of Vietnam's best places to visit to help you plan your trip.
Halong Bay
Halong Bay, a classified World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is known for its karst landscape. It is a must-see destination for anybody interested in seeing some of the world's most breathtaking sea scenery.
This harbor in Tonkin's Gulf has numerous islets made of sedimentary rocks shaped into sharp crests by erosion and seawater throughout millions of years.
Halong Bay
It is highly recommended to explore the area on a ship if you want to profit from its beautiful surroundings. Seeing Halong Bay's famous sights in a day isn't possible, so consider booking a one-night excursion at the very least.
Many of the underground grottoes in the area are accessible to visitors, such as Hang Sung Sot, which has additional enormous tunnels, and Hang Dao Go, which features fantastically but bizarrely tapering columns rising from the floor and moon milk. However, most tourists enjoy just sailing through the limestone formations and taking in the ever-changing panorama of spires as they go.
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's bustling economic metropolis, is a must-see for every urbanite on a trip to the nation. Insane traffic jams of motorcycles and vehicles, a very international atmosphere in its restaurants and cafes, and some of the finest retail offerings in the country can all be found here.
Most of the town's attractions are located in the prominent neighborhood of Dong Khoi, a famously compact and readily navigable area. In the lively district of Dong Khoi, you can see the beautiful neo-Romanesque Cathedral Notre Dame, which was built between 1877 and 1883, and the nearby Ho Chi Minh City Museum, which has a fantastic collection of artifacts that tell the story of the city.
Ho Chi Minh City
The neighboring Da Kao District is a dream place for architecture enthusiasts. They will be enchanted by the surrounding old French buildings dating back to colonization. As for history and religious lovers, they will be pleased to enter the atmospheric Ngoc Hoang Pagoda, the Jade Emperor Pagoda, to see stunning displays of Buddhist and Taoist religious imagery.
History fans should go to the History Museum next. It has artifacts that were found in different places.
The city's most significant places of interest are a short distance from the main drag (Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street) and a must-see for every traveler. Formerly titled Independence Palace, the South Vietnamese president's official quarter (Reunification Palace) is where North Vietnamese tanks finally halted on April 30, 1975, marking the definitive end of the War of Vietnam. All the original furniture from that period makes this building a wonderful time capsule.
The War Remnants Museum is not too far away. It gives a scary picture of how cruel war is and how many crimes the US military committed during their war in Vietnam.
Hue
Located in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên-Huế, Hue is a beautiful ancient city bursting at the seams with artifacts from the Nguyen dynasty.
Superbly surrounded by strong barricades that extend over 2.5 kilometers along Hương Giang (the Perfume River), the Imperial City, commonly called the Imperial Enclosure, is a massive complex enclosed by walls, often described as a citadel within a citadel.
Hue
The Imperial City is 200 years old, but you will be impressed by its well-maintained appearance while visiting the ground. Inside the walls of the castle, you will have the opportunity to learn a great deal about Vietnamese history and see several well-preserved relics like the Meridian Gate (Ngo Mon), which is the most giant of the four gates and a beautiful example of Vietnamese architecture; the Thai Hoa Palace, where all the royal thrones of the Nguyen Dynasty are exposed; and the Hien Lam Pavilion, a three-story structure made of wood built as a memorial for the kings under the Nguyen Dynasty and a standing testimony to Vietnamese art.
Out of the imperial Enclosure walls, Hue city will continue to keep you on the trek with various cultural and historical sites to visit.
Cruising the Perfume River aboard a boat is one of the best methods to see various distant attractions; you may see multiple imperial burial sites and pagodas in a single day.
The Thien Mu Pagoda, standing at 21 meters tall, is the most prominent in the region, while the Mausoleum of Tu Doc is the ideal tomb to see if you have limited time.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park
Designated in 2003 World Heritage by UNESCO, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is a National Park with stunning old karst hill formations and grottos, and one of the greatest sites to go spelunking in Vietnam.
The park has many caves, but the most famous is Paradise Cave, which has an astonishing 31-kilometer underground extension.
These grottoes are unique, with their wide entrances and bottomless pits. When you explore Tu Lan Cave, often known as the "wet cave," you may take a dip in the underwater tunnel.
Phong Nha Caves, which visitors may enter by riverboat, are the second most visited attraction in the area.
My Son
My Son is an old temple city dating back to the time of the Cham civilization in the fourth century and is encircled by hills clothed in dense vegetation.
This ancient Hindoo holy site continued to be in heavy usage until the tenth century, and it wasn't until the 1300s that it slipped into disuse and was eventually abandoned.
Approximately twenty temples remained over time, constructed of bricks or sedimentary blocks of rocks and displaying intriguing similarities with other Asian civilizations, such as India and Malaysia.
My Son
Of the two groups on the site, Group B temples are older. In contrast, Group A temples, which housed the area's most significant monument until it was demolished on purpose by American soldiers during the War of Vietnam, are considered more recent.
A well-curated museum provides a wealth of background concerning the Cham.
Hoi An
Hoi An, Vietnam's most picturesque city, has an abundance of old buildings that have been preserved to this day.
The fifteenth century saw the city of Hoi An at its peak as a commercial hub for traders from Japan and China who came here to purchase the native competencies. The part called "old town" is fun to explore because there are so many well-kept shops from that time.
Numerous historic commercial buildings are now accessible to visitors, offering a glimpse into past merchants' daily lives. Tan Ky House, which was built in the 1600s, has the most beautiful architecture and decorations.
Hoi An
Chua Cau, mostly known as the Japanese Covered Bridge, is a charming and recognizable landmark of Hoi An, located on westerly Tran Phu Street. In the same neighborhood, you can also visit the Fujian Chinese Congregation's Assembly Hall, the oldest and most ornate temple in the old town.
Although there are several fascinating museums and pagodas to visit in Hoi An, the best way to experience the city's unique character is to wander the winding alleyways of the historic district and admire the buildings' remarkably intact façades.
Sapa Countryside
This region around Sapa houses some of Vietnam's most breathtaking landscapes, with its lush rice paddies and the craggy apexes of the Hoang Lien Mountains.
Among others, small communities like the Cat Cat, Red Dzao, and Ta Phin, which can be visited alone or guided, make their homes in the deep valleys' region, surrounded by undulating hillsides covered in tiered rice paddies and dominated by Fansipan Mountain. Trekkers consistently praise the view from the top of Mt. Fansipan, the highest peak in the nation, as being worth the arduous journey to get there.
Sapa
In this region, you may choose from dozens of daytime hikes and overnight treks through quaint mountain communities with breathtaking vistas, making this the best landing place for backpackers in Vietnam.
The headquarters of all activities is a former mountain outpost transformed into a thriving and ever-expanding tourism hub that stands in stark contrast to the lush, quiet landscape on its borders.
Hanoi
Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is the pulsating hub of the country and a location that both baffles and delights visitors.
While some visitors may find Hanoi's motorcycle chaos, smog, and roadside sellers' incessant noise challenging, the capital is a great site to experience the Vietnamese urban lifestyle.
History lovers will aim for the cluster of fantastic museums in the old town district, which has enough decaying beauty.
If you're short on time, visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a significant national monument in Vietnam. The memorial to Ho Chi Minh (tenderly called "Uncle Ho" by the locals), the beloved president and national leader of the revolution. The Mausoleum draws millions of tourists annually and is the biggest attraction in Hanoi. In the same area, you may also visit the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, an excellent place to discover a great deal about Vietnamese art. The Vietnam Fine Art Museum (in French, Musée des Beaux-Arts du Viêt Nam) is the country's primary art museum, displaying Vietnam's fine arts chronologically.
Nha Trang
Nha Trang City is the best place in Vietnam to enjoy the beach and sun. In the summer, the amazing and well-kept kilometer-long band of sand is always bustling with happiness. The central coast shorelines of Nha Trang are a place of enjoyment for tourists worldwide and the city's families.
There are safe places to swim and beautiful places to relax on the beach, making it a great place to spend a day at leisure.
Nha Trang
In addition to being an excellent beach destination, adventurers looking to stretch their legs can visit the nearby Cham temple, Po Nagar, built in 781 and still in use today. On your way to the temple, you'll cross the well-known Xom Bong bridge, where you will find great spots to take beautiful photos of the view.
Nha Trang is also home to the Pasteur Institute, which was created by Alexandre Yersin, who identified the Black Death's source (bubonic plague). There is a museum devoted to his work in the surrounding area, which is also worth a visit.
Cu Chi Tunnels
Hidden under the jungle terrain of Vietnam in the south are the Cu Chi Tunnels, a 250-kilometer network of tunnels dug in the 1940s during the war for independence against French occupation. The tunnels, which provided Viet Cong soldiers with a base of operations and a means of communication in the countryside outside Ho Chi Minh City, are nowadays a captivating attraction for anybody visiting Vietnam.
Cu Chi Tunnels
Not recommended for those who experience discomfort at close quarters, visitors may enjoy a guided tour of two brief parts of these tunnels.
While exploring the tunnels, there will be parts where you have no choice but to go down and crawl like a baby. Visitors usually opt to start their exploration of the site from Ben Dinh village, but you can also access the tunnels from Ben Duoc village.
If you're planning to visit Vietnam and explore its top attractions with your own eyes, please don't hesitate to contact us, just simply tell us your interests and needs, and one of our travel experts will create a tailor-made itinerary for you within 24hrs.
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